I've fudged the distinction between tonic and root because of the way I think Fez wants to use modes. But if you're thinking the ii, V, I chord sequence only has one tonic, you're absolutely right. But I didn't want to go there in the context of the question asked.

Fez909 Can I ask? Are you familiar with chord theory? I, IV, V, I etc? I'm a bit concerned that you're leaping into modes without certain foundations you might have been wiser having first...

Can't remember if I posted in this thread already but: I do believe that for the vast majority of people some kind of weekly lesson with teacher, starting early in the learning process, gives you FAR more chance of sticking with an instrument and getting good. It give you a strong foundation and discipline; after you've got that properly then it is there for good, and you can go off and do whatever crazy thing you want.

This is exactly what my teacher said when I asked her what a mode was. Unfortunately, I'm a dick when it comes to stuff like this...tell me "not yet", and it'll just make me want to know more.

I even mentioned it in my question on this thread that it's rushing ahead, but I want to know

I'm still prepared to put the work in on the foundational stuff, of course, but it doesn't mean I can't ask questions...

And no, I don't know chord theory: I don't know anything yet.

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OK. So your C major scale. The white notes. Number them in order. With your right hand, put your fingers down on 1, 3 and 5. This is a C major chord. It has a root, C, a major third (E), and a perfect fifth (G). Think of those as being (major) 3rd and (perfect) 5th in relation to the C (which is under your thumb).

(To make it C minor, play Eb instead of E. This is the difference between a major and a minor chord: a major chord has a major 3rd, and a minor chord has a minor [flattened] third).

Move your thumb to F (the fourth note in the scale). Make the major chord shape. (Thumb on F as 1, middle finger on A as your major third, and pinkie on C as your 5th). This is an F major triad.

Now do the same with your thumb on G. (G, B, D). This is a G major triad.

These chords are still in the key of C, because they're built on scale degrees in your C major scale. And we number them in Roman numerals: I, IV and V. (So that we can do the same thing in any key). This is what people mean when they say you only need three chords. These are the three chords. They have technical names too, to do with their function. But for now listen to their relationship with each other as you play I, IV, V, I. (Or I, IV, I, IV, V, I. or whatever).

Preferably do that before trying out the mode stuff I posted last night.

OK. So your C major scale. The white notes. Number them in order. With your right hand, put your fingers down on 1, 3 and 5. This is a C major chord. It has a root, C, a major third (E), and a perfect fifth (G). Think of those as being (major) 3rd and (perfect) 5th in relation to the C (which is under your thumb).

(To make it C minor, play Eb instead of E. This is the difference between a major and a minor chord: a major chord has a major 3rd, and a minor chord has a minor [flattened] third).

Move your thumb to F (the fourth note in the scale). Make the major chord shape. (Thumb on F as 1, middle finger on A as your major third, and pinkie on C as your 5th). This is an F major triad.

Now do the same with your thumb on G. (G, B, D). This is a G major triad.

These chords are still in the key of C, because they're built on scale degrees in your C major scale. And we number them in Roman numerals: I, IV and V. (So that we can do the same thing in any key). This is what people mean when they say you only need three chords. These are the three chords. They have technical names too, to do with their function. But for now listen to their relationship with each other as you play I, IV, V, I. (Or I, IV, I, IV, V, I. or whatever).

Preferably do that before trying out the mode stuff I posted last night.

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Thanks, I kind of knew all that, but not really the names for them.

So, the root note is the lowest note of the chord. Makes sense (hence 'root'). How does that differ from the tonic? I assumed (probably wrongly), that they were two names for the same thing.

Started playing a bit more with two hands now. This week's homework was to learn Emeli Sande - Next to Me. It's only got a few chords, and they're repeated for the entire track. Pretty easy. She said we're doing Let It Be next.

So the Sande tune was a bit boring so I've started playing around with Let It Be already. That's fairly easy, too. Got the intro bit nailed

If anyone can think of similar tunes (basic chords, no/not many sharps or flats, etc) then let me know. Lots of the 'easy' song tutorials are still way too hard for me, so it's nice to find something I can actually play - doesn't have to be good

Started playing a bit more with two hands now. This week's homework was to learn Emeli Sande - Next to Me. It's only got a few chords, and they're repeated for the entire track. Pretty easy. She said we're doing Let It Be next.

So the Sande tune was a bit boring so I've started playing around with Let It Be already. That's fairly easy, too. Got the intro bit nailed

If anyone can think of similar tunes (basic chords, no/not many sharps or flats, etc) then let me know. Lots of the 'easy' song tutorials are still way too hard for me, so it's nice to find something I can actually play - doesn't have to be good

On the thread topic of "learning an instrument", I remembered something last night that I was told when I was learning to DJ: record all your mixes. Listen back to them, see what worked and what didn't.

I hadn't consciously decided to do this for piano, but I have been sending videos and audio snippets to friends when they've asked how I'm doing. So I already have a nice little documented progression of my learning. I recorded another thing last night and when I listened back, I could hear pauses between the chords where they shouldn't be. I didn't notice them when I was playing.

So I put a metronome on and tried again. It was much harder, but the result was so much better.

On the thread topic of "learning an instrument", I remembered something last night that I was told when I was learning to DJ: record all your mixes. Listen back to them, see what worked and what didn't.

Well, the first link I posted, the video, was the hardest. Filming yourself playing a piano by holding a phone in one hand, while not being very good on piano anyway, was pretty difficult.

If it's just for your own progress, just prop your phone up somewhere and point it at you playing your uke.

If you want to share it, then you might want to think about a tripod and proper mics and whatever else. Decide what you want to do, and if it's something a bit fancier, stick a post in the tech forums (or even in the music forum) and I'm sure you'll get some good advice.